Chapter 105: [Heavenly Secrets]

"Mm, what do you mean?" Chen Yan asked.

"The most suspicious thing is actually not those crimes Lord Chen Jue has been rumored to have committed—they're all baseless fabrications in fact. The most suspicious thing is not these.

The most suspicious thing is that I spent three years and still couldn't find out where Lord Chen Jue has been all these years, or what he's been doing. It's as if after he was transferred out of Luoyan Town, this person simply vanished into thin air. That is absolutely impossible!"

Yousu Yi breathed rapidly and said through gritted teeth: "Back when he was transferred out of Luoyan Town, I was a clerk in the Town General's Office, and I personally saw the document from the 'War Department'! That document bore the immortal-register seal personally set by the venerable lord who commands the War Department!

I was certain that after leaving Luoyan Town, he must have been transferred to another garrison town!

But I asked my comrades in the army to look into it, and in all the immortal registers and law tablets of the War Department—across the Three Platforms, Eight Passes, and Sixteen Towns—Chen Jue's name simply cannot be found at all!

I have no idea where the War Department transferred him after he left Luoyan Town. And the records about him in the immortal registers and law tablets, after Luoyan Town, contain no further mention of him whatsoever!

This also proves that things like embezzling provisions as a town general, killing a vice general, and the like are nothing but rumors.

But in the end, this person simply seemed to have evaporated—there's no record anywhere that shows where he's been all these years or what he's done. It's as if he disappeared for several decades, and then suddenly became infamous overnight, with everyone shouting to beat him down."

Chen Yan's expression grew grave.

Indeed, very strange!

Yousu Yi's face took on an eerie look, and a trace of fear actually flickered in her eyes. She sighed softly: "So, I arrived at a guess that even I find somewhat terrifying when I think about it…"

As she spoke, even though they were clearly inside a stone chamber in the mountain's belly where daylight never reached, this old fox couldn't help but glance left and right, as if she were afraid of some unseen presence in the darkness.

"Fellow Daoist, this is also why I'm only daring to speak of this with you now that we're not in the Domain Realm. This world has its own Heaven's Dao, beyond the Domain Realm's jurisdiction—only then do I dare tell you these things." Yousu Yi sighed and said quietly: "If we were in the Domain Realm, I would never, ever dare bring this matter up with you."

Hearing this, Chen Yan's heart also rose into his throat!

"Fellow Daoist, please think—if a person becomes infamous, with everyone shouting to beat him down… what must have been true beforehand?"

Chen Yan thought for a moment: "The prerequisite is… he did many evil deeds?"

"No!" Yousu Yi shook her head, then said slowly: "The prerequisite is that this person must already be very famous! Famous throughout the land, known to everyone!"

Chen Yan's expression changed abruptly!

He was a clever man himself; he just hadn't thought it through for a moment. But one sentence from the old fox instantly enlightened him, and he grasped the key to the matter.

If you want to become infamous, you must first have "fame"!

If you want everyone shouting to beat you down, you must first let "everyone" know who you are!

Only when a top celebrity in the entertainment circle gets caught soliciting would the whole world be in an uproar.

If it were just some Wang Ermazi in a village who got caught soliciting… who the hell would know who you are?

In Chen Yan's real world, with all kinds of online platforms and self-media, even an utterly obscure person can become known to the whole world overnight. A single little essay can rocket a complete stranger to the top of the trending searches overnight.

Presumably the Domain Realm has no TikTok or Weibo, let alone trending searches and headlines.

Then, to make a person known to the whole world could not possibly be accomplished in a single night!

It should be that this person accumulated fame over many long years, passed by word of mouth, and it took many years to spread throughout the Domain Realm so that everyone knew this person's name!

Chen Jue—this person, for several decades now, has no records in any documentation. As if he vanished for decades without a trace… no one knows where he's been all these decades or what he's done.

A person with zero name recognition, in a Domain Realm with no internet media… yet suddenly becomes infamous, with the whole world shouting to beat him down… recognition level MAX?

That is terrifying!

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"I thought it over and over, and the greatest possibility is… the myriad beings of the Domain Realm originally knew of Lord Chen Jue's deeds. Lord Chen Jue must originally have been greatly famous within the Domain Realm! But I've asked many people—humans, yao, ghosts… from the great clans above to the rank-and-file below.

Yet every person I've asked cannot say what Chen Jue did in the past several decades.

They can't even say what this person's past reputation was. They just inexplicably know that he's a great villain. Suddenly, in recent years, they know this man is utterly depraved, and so he became infamous, with everyone shouting to beat him down."

As the old fox spoke, she suddenly pointed at her own nose: "I even suspect that even I… I say I don't know where Lord Chen Jue was during the several decades we were apart, or what he did…

Perhaps, I actually do know, but the memories of those several decades… have vanished!

Because after the memories of this person spanning several decades disappeared, inexplicably all that's left is knowing he's a great villain, and then hearing many rumors that he committed many crimes…"

Chen Yan was silent for a while, then raised his head, his eyes flickering, and said quietly: "Shielding the heavenly secrets?"

Yousu Yi's body jolted!

She stared at Chen Yan for several moments, then sighed: "Fellow Daoist truly is the descendant of a Venerable, a scion of a great clan with extraordinary insight. You guessed what was on my mind so quickly—correct! After thinking it through from every angle, this is the only possibility."

Chen Yan thought to himself, it's not that I have extraordinary insight, nor that I'm some descendant of a Venerable…

It's actually because this Chen the Great Philanthropist has also read a certain seafood merchant's novel, which contains exactly this kind of plot device.

"To shield the heavenly secrets, to make me… to make the myriad beings of the Domain Realm suddenly lose several decades of memories about a person who was originally greatly famous—such a method requires a great power to act personally, using supreme great dharma to alter Heaven's Dao, before it can affect the myriad beings of the Domain Realm!"

A chill crept into Yousu Yi's voice: "Such a method, ordinary Venerables couldn't accomplish it… unless a Great Heavenly Venerable acted personally!!"

Great Heavenly Venerable?

Chen Yan frowned and said: "What exactly did this Chen Jue do that could make a Great Heavenly Venerable act personally, shield the heavenly secrets, and twist and shield the perceptions of the myriad beings?"

"That I don't know." Yousu Yi's tone was grim: "However, this kind of method to shield the heavenly secrets cannot deceive everyone. Above the Venerable rank—that is, those of the Saint tier—have already merged themselves with Heaven's Dao. This kind of method to shield the heavenly secrets is useless against those of the Saint tier.

So… within the Domain Realm, those who know the truth today probably number only forty-two."

Chen Yan nodded: "Thirty-six Venerables, four Earth Venerables, two Heavenly Venerables."

"Yes, only these forty-two great powers of the Saint rank who stand above the clouds are unaffected by the shielding of the heavenly secrets and know the truth.

However, my status isn't high enough. Such a great secret involving a Great Heavenly Venerable's personal action would never be told to me."

Chen Yan was silent for a while, pondering carefully in his heart, but couldn't figure anything out.

Still, he did have one guess.

Chen Jue once swore that if one day he broke through to a new realm and became a Saint, he would surely slash down and destroy Heaven's Dao!

Perhaps his later fate had something to do with that oath?

A Great Heavenly Venerable acting to shield the heavenly secrets and twist the myriad beings' perception of Chen Jue… perhaps that also has something to do with this?

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(Turn the page, there's still another chapter)

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